Truly Great Clubs

Which club is the greatest? What to measure with? Are there any objective criteria? Looks like yes, there are. The quality and the quantity of produced players will be such criterion which we suggest to oppose to tight-filled, but stupid purses of pseudo-great clubs which have no relation to real greatness.

Let’s have a look at the recent past and recall which Argentinean and Brazilian clubs presented to world which players in last 10-15 years. We have chosen only those who could be called outstanding by various reasons: whether they went to other teams and became leaders there; or they went to Europe; or they were called to national teams; or they won various tournaments; or they were parts of various ideal teams; or they achieved various personal results, etc. The absence of various famous players can be explained by that they were actually revealed and raised in small clubs.

By overall quantity of produced high-quality players the first rank is occupied by Newell’s Old Boys from Argentinean city of Rosario, which now has all the rights to be called world’s football capital (or more exactly, one of the world’s football capitals). The Brazilian clubs settled mostly in the lower part of the table. It can be explained, obviously, by more even distribution of talents over Brazilian clubs, as well as simply by lesser number of talents, produced in country since recently, if compared to Argentina.

"Newell’s Old Boys" (Argentina) - 32
Fernando Crosa, Diego Crosa, Leonardo Ponzio, German Re, Damian Manso, Mauro Rosales, Lisandro Sacripante, Fernando Belluschi, Guillermo Marino, Leandro Fernandez, Claudio Enria, Diego Castagno Suarez, Sebastian Cejas, Fabricio Fuentes, Nicolas Pavlovich, Maxi Rodriguez, Hernan Franco, Pablo Guiñazu, Sebastian Dominguez, Santiago Solari, Lionel Scaloni, Mauricio Pochettino, Eduardo Berizzo, Gaston Aguirre, Aldo Duscher, Gabriel Heinze, Lionel Messi, Facundo Quiroga, Gabriel Batistuta, Walter Samuel, Fernando Gamboa, Elvio Martinez

"River Plate" (Argentina) - 31
Ariel Ortega, Pablo Aimar, Marcelo Gallardo, Javier Saviola, Diego Barrado, Andres d’Alessandro, Juan Raponi, Fernando Cavenaghi, Gaston Fernandez, Juan Pablo Carrizo, Gonzalo Higuain, Lucas Mareque, Maxi Lopez, Damian Alvarez, Daniel Ludueña, Guillermo Pereyra, Martin de Michelis, Javier Mascherano, Jesus Mendez, Diego Placente, Matias Almeyda, Oscar Ahumada, Osmar Ferreira, Juan Menseguez, Hernan Crespo, Cristian Nasuti, Augusto Fernandez, Matias Abelairas, Dario Conca, Nicolas Domingo, German Lux


"Velez Sarsfield" (Argentina) - 27
Roberto Nanni, Patricio Camps, Fabian Cubero, Mauricio Pellegrino, Maximiliano Pellegrino, Hernan Pellerano, Emiliano Dudar, Juan Falcon, Esteban Bujan, Patricio Perez, Leandro Gracian, Federico Dominguez, Jonas Gutierrez, Leandro Somoza, Dario Husain, Claudio Husain, Rolando Zarate, Mauro Zarate, Emmanuel Fernandez Francou, Lucas Castroman, Roberto Pompei, Omar Asad, Sebastian Mendez, Turu Flores, Pablo Batalla, Emmanuel Centurion, Dario Ocampo

"Boca Juniors" (Argentina) - 26
Juan Roman Riquelme, Nicolas Burdisso, Clemente Rodriguez, Sebastian Battaglia, Carlos Tevez, Franco Cangele, Neri Cardozo, Fernando Gago, Ever Banega, Jonatan Fabbro, Omar Perez, Cesar La Paglia, Anibal Matellan, Javier Rosada, Daniel Tilger, Roberto Colautti, Hector Bracamonte, Jose Maria Calvo, Christian Gimenez, Pablo Islas, Fernando Ortiz, Ariel Carreño, Wilfredo Caballero, Aldo Paredes, Andres Franzoia, Alfredo Moreno

"Rosario Central" (Argentina) - 25
Marcelo Delgado, Eduardo Coudet, Daniel Diaz, Luciano de Bruno, Luciano Figueroa, Cesar Delgado, Federico Lussenhoff, Angel di Maria, Paulo Ferrari, Marco Ruben, Walter Gaitan, Antonio Pizzi, Jose Chamot, Pablo Sanchez, Roberto Bonano, Martin Cardetti, Claudio Ubeda, Matias Lequi, Kily Gonzalez, Horacio Carbonari, Roberto Abbondanzieri, Gabriel Loeschbor, Hernan Encina, Pablo Vitti, German Herrera

"Flamengo" (Brazil) - 19
Julio Cesar, Alessandro, Athirson, Paulo Nunes, Gilberto, Zinho, Junior Baiano, Luis Alberto, Renato Augusto, Ibson, Jonatas, Jean, Paulo Cesar, Marcelinho Carioca, Fabiano, Fabio Baiano, Savio, Adriano, Juan

"San Lorenzo" (Argentina) - 19
Sebastian Saja, Gonzalo Rodriguez, Leandro Romagnoli, Pablo Zabaleta, Pablo Barrientos, Ezequil Lavezzi, Jonatan Bottinelli, Walter Garcia, Eduardo Tuzzio, Guillermo Franco, Walter Erviti, Raul Estevez, Lucas Pusineri, Fabricio Collocini, Mario Santana, Walter Montillo, Hernan Peirone, Damian Luna, Adrian Gonzalez

"Argentinos Juniors" (Argentina) - 16
Federico Insua, Diego Cagna, Leonardo Pisculici, Leonel Nuñez, Rolando Schiavi, Gustavo Oberman, Lucas Biglia, Victor Zapata, Carlos Moreno, Christian Zermatten, Ariel Garce, Sebastian Pena, Fernando Redondo, Juan Pablo Sorin, Ariel Seltzer, Cristian Ledesma

"Lanus" (Argentina) - 16
Dieso Klimowicz, Gabriel Schurrer, Ariel Ibagaza, Julian Kmet, Rodrigo Archubi, Marcos Aguirre, Cristian Fabbiani, Sebastian Leto, Ezequiel Carboni, Agustin Pelletieri, Rodrigo Diaz, Mauricio Romero, Silvio Gonzalez, Javier Morales, Juan Jose Serrizuela, Diego Galvan

"Corinthians" (Brazil) - 15
Gil, Marques, Doni, Anderson, Rubinho, Cris, Jo, de Souza, Marcos Senna, Coelho, Viola, Marcinho, Ze Elias, Silvinho, Paulo Sergio

"Independiente" (Argentina) - 14
Gabriel Milito, Esteban Cambiasso, Leonel Rios, Emmanuel Rivas, Esteban Fuertes, Sergio Aguero, Oscar Ustari, Livio Prieto, Matias Vuoso, Mariano Pernia, Gustavo Lopez, Christian Diaz, Bruno Marioni, Ismael Sosa

"Estudiantes" (Argentina) - 14
Martin Palermo, Juan Krupoviesa, Juan Sebastian Veron, Mariano Pavone, Jose Sosa, Jose Luis Calderon, Ernesto Farias, Gaston Sessa, Diego Colotto, Pablo Quatrocchi, Luciano Galletti, Bernardo Romeo, Marcelo Carrusca, Claudio Lopez

"Gimnasia de La Plata" (Argentina) - 13
Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Gustavo Barros Schelotto, Nicolas Cabrera, Lucas Licht, Lucas Lobos, Sebastian Romero, Mariano Messera, Leonardo Cufre, Jorge San Esteban, Martin Pautasso, Roberto Sosa, Ariel Pereyra, Andres Guglielminpietro

"Santos" (Brazil) - 12
Deivid, Maurinho, Andre Luiz, Paulo Almeida, Elano, Diego, Robinho, Gustavo Nery, Baiano, Alex, Michel, Sergio Manoel

"Sao Paulo" (Brazil) - 12
Dodô, Caio, Fabiano Costa, Elivelton, Kaka, Rogerio Ceni, Fabio Simplicio, Julio Baptista, Diego Tardelli, Cafu, Edmilson, Denilson

"Gremio" (Brazil) - 11
Scheidt, Anderson Polga, Ronaldinho, Anderson, Lucas, Carlos Eduardo, Roger, Tinga, Claudio Pitbull, Marcelinho, Emerson

"Banfield" (Argentina) - 10
Javier Zanetti, Julio Ricardo Cruz, Mauro Camoranesi, Jesus Dátolo, Daniel Bilos, Jose Luis Sanchez, Marcos Galarza, Gabriel Paletta, Claudio Graf, Emiliano Armenteros

"Cruzeiro" (Brazil) - 10
Alex Mineiro, Luizão, Maicon, Jussié, Ramon, Gomes, Edu Drácena, Maxwell, Geovanni, Belletti

"Atletico Paranaense" (Brazil) - 10
Renaldo, Gustavo, Kleberson, Kleber, Dagoberto, Ilan, Jadson, Fernandinho, Oseas, Paulo Rink

"Coritiba" (Brazil) - 10
Helcio, Adriano, Lima, Alex, Liedson, Basilio, Marcão, Rafinha, Ze Roberto, Marcel

"Palmeiras" (Brazil) - 9
Flavio Luis, Rogerio, Marcos, Magrão, Nene, Rodrigo Taddei, Alberto, Vagner Love, Ricardinho

"Internacional" (Brazil) - 9
Daniel Carvalho, Nilmar, Diogo Rincon, Alexandre Pato, Cristian, Chiquino, Rafael Sobis, Fabio Rochemback, Lucio

"Racing" (Argentina) - 8
Maxi Morales, Adrian Bastia, Diego Milito, Gustavo Cabral, Lisandro Lopez, Mariano Gonzalez, Maxi Estevez, Vicente Principiano

"Vasco da Gama" (Brazil) - 8
Pedrinho, Geder, Felipe, Romario, Edmundo, Pretto Casagrande, Valdir, Morais

"Huracan" (Argentina) - 7
Lucho Gonzalez, Daniel Montenegro, Emmanuel Villa, Antonio Barijho, Gonzalo Hirsig, Nestor Silvera, Maximiliano Castaño

"Fluminense" (Brazil) - 6
Roni, Carlos Alberto, Rodolfo, Antonio Carlos, Roger, Arouca

"Goias" (Brazil) - 6
Gustavo, Josué, Danilo, Araujo, Dill, Fernandão

"Atletico Mineiro" (Brazil) - 6
Mancini, Renato, Cicinho, Euller, Lincoln, Gilberto Silva

"Colon" (Argentina) - 6
Hugo Ibarra, Cesar Carignano, Alcides Piccoli, Cristian Castillo, Martin Romagnoli, Jose Sand

"Guarani" (Brazil) - 5
Mineiro, Amoroso, Roberto, Luizão, Robson Ponte

"Parana" (Brazil) - 5
Tcheco, Cristian, Ricardinho, Lucio Flavio

"Botafogo" (Brazil) - 3
Iranildo, Dimba, Beto

"Baia" (Brazil) - 3
Fabão, Dani Alves, Jorge Wagner

"Ponte Preta" (Brazil) - 3
Rodrigo, Luis Fabiano, Andre Cunha

That’s quantity. If you want a quality criterion, then we need to disregard the narrow-profiled specialists and count only the pure and absolute multi-lateral talents (their names are marked in bold). In this case the teams will be ranked more predictably. The first three will be the world’s truly greatest clubs – River Plate, Boca Juniors and Flamengo, with River having outrun the rest significantly. Also note that Flamengo still manages to produce the quality players despite all their never-ending problems during the last decade.

River Plate – 20
Boca Juniors – 13
Flamengo – 10
Newell’s Old Boys – 9
Velez Sarsfield – 9
Rosario Central – 7
Independiente – 7
Gremio – 7
Corinthians – 6
Estudiantes – 6
Vasco da Gama – 6
Palmeiras – 6
Lanus – 6
San Lorenzo – 6
Argentinos Juniors – 5
Gimnasia de La Plata – 5
Atletico Paranaense – 5
Internacional – 5
Goias – 5
Atletico Mineiro – 5
Parana – 4
Sao Paulo – 4
Banfield – 4
Racing – 4
Coritiba – 4
Santos – 3
Cruzeiro – 3
Huracan – 3
Botafogo – 3
Fluminense – 2
Guarani – 2
Baia – 2
Colon – 1
Ponte Preta – 0

In both lists both teams from Rosario are placed high, despite the run of bad luck for Rosario Central. The sudden high rank of Lanus is explained by the splash of activity in last couple of years. While Velez Sarsfield has simply derived maximum of benefit from team’s successes in the mid-90s, having launched the football schools at full-load.

In Brazil the tendency of producing the bright footballers gets lower to South with every year. The best suppliers today are states of Parana and Rio Grande do Sul. Ex-leaders like Botafogo and Atletico Mineiro mainly vegetate. It’s interesting to observe the good work of “canteras” of Goias, a club from modest Goiania, as well as of a club of Argentinean poverty, Banfield, that returned to elite not so long ago.

P.S. And now, if you want to know what the greatest world’s clubs are INDEED, as well as to understand, which nation is the most footballistic in the world, recall hundreds of excellent Uruguayan players, distributed throughout the world in latest 15 years, and divide them between 5-6 Uruguayan leading clubs.